Nevi Wesh Project

This project is about a community of settled Gypsies living in an area disadvantaged by rural isolation and lack of opportunities, in the New Forest in the UK. While there is a lot of photography work on the few remaining travelling Gypsies, the fact is that 95% of Romani Gypsies are actually settled in the UK and do not travel at all. 

These Gypsies often face extreme, but generally unreported, prejudice as they seek to retain their own culture and heritage after their ancestors were forcibly settled during the course of the Twentieth Century, having previously been able to camp where they wished in the Forest and throughout the country. While some are happy to remain settled, some wish to take up the travellers’ life again. 

I was lucky to have opportunities to build trust with the community, and then photograph with them, over two years, as a group and, eventually, individually, at their homes and in the forest where their recent ancestors would have camped. The Romani name for the New Forest is Nevi Wesh.

I first learned about the Gypsies of this community when I was researching the changes in land ownership that have occurred over the years since the Enclosure Movement of the 18th Century (and before, in fact). Public land became “privatised” - of course to the detriment of local people. Through this I came to learn about this particular Gypsy community who were removed from the Forest, first into compounds, and later into what were genuinely called “rehabilitation” centres, and then into the housing still used today. This process took place from the 1920s to the 1970s.

To contact the settled Gypsy community in the first place I reached out to an academic and social worker, Jane Peacock, whose doctorate thesis “From Heathland to Housing” is about the community. After about six months - this is in 2023 - Jane introduced me to some members of the community. In the old days I probably would have given up before then, but I was patient in this case.

Jane’s thesis was very influential on my work. In it, she discusses many of the possible pitfalls academic researchers can fall into when working with disadvantaged communities and it struck me that photographers often fall into these traps too to the detriment of the finished work, while leaving subjects feeling exploited in some way. Therefore I was cautious to build relationships and not to “promise the earth” and then “abruptly leave once the work was complete”. This seemed a way to ensure that the relationships remained equal, with the goal of being able to create a deeper, more honest body of work, hopefully less based on my own prejudices. 

With this in mind I have really worked to build relationships in the community. I have a bit of legal experience (from a long time ago) and helped one litigant with a court case, as a MacKenzie Friend (non professional supporter in court and with statements). Also helped one person with a very complicated first passport application, and have helped organise days out, and taken Christmas photos for everyone! Right now, I am going through the process to become a trustee at the village hall so I can continue to be involved in the future.

These things have helped me establish a bond. To be honest without these actions, particularly the court case help, I wouldn’t have been able to take any pictures I think. So it was good to act reciprocally. 

The community is pretty large - maybe a hundred people, all related in some way, and all with ancestors, maybe only a generation or two back, who lived a nomadic lifestyle. At first they would only let me photograph them all together - they described themselves as like a “pack” in that respect - always together. I found it difficult to make these pictures work though so eventually persuaded them to be photographed separately. This could be seen as a limitation of the project - but I prefer to see it as a compromise. There’s a lot more I’ve learned about limitations and compromise through this work.

The number of people I’ve photographed over the years and never spoken to again (once they’ve signed the model release and I’ve sent them jpegs as consideration in the contract, of course). I’m sure I’ll work like that again, but it’s been very rewarding to be more considerate and collaborative in this project.

Cheers

James

Names have been changed.

Please get in touch for more information about this project.